Jury Hires Crochet

The Lincoln Parish Police Jury’s (LPPJ) Solid Waste & Recycling Committee last night voted 5-1 to hire Crochet Equipment Company to furnish and operate a woodwaste burner at the jury’s Arkansas Plant Road landfill.

In voting no, District Three’s Bobby Bennett said that voting no was the right vote and he was not afraid to stand up for what was right.

Bennett has said that he thinks the jury could operate the facility with the existing landfill personnel and that it was foolish to squander tax money on a private contractor.

Voting for the contract were Walter Pullen, Theresa Wyatt, Nancy Wilson, Sharyon Mayfield and Ronny Walker.

See here the contract.

The committee also discussed distribution of monies to local municipalities from a reserve equipment fund. There was a lot of discussion on whether the amount should be $2 million or $1.5 million. Pullen and Walker were for the lesser amount, and when a motion by Bennett to distribute $2 million was voted upon, those two voted no.

The Finance Committee also discussed the money issue, but when Chair Jody Backus moved to distribute only $1.5 million, that action failed on a tie vote. Voting with Backus was Pullen and Walker. Voting against was Wyatt, Mayfield, and Hazel Hunter.

Earlier in the meeting of the Adjudicated Property Committee, Chair Ronny Walker (District 12) told the members that the parish could be losing as much as $165 thousand/year in potential property taxes because the properties were not on the tax rolls. According to Walker, over 300 parcels of land has been “adjudicated” to local governments.

The committee agreed to move forward with developing a process for selling the properties and soliciting vendors to help with the process.

Jury legal adviser Jeff Robinson said that sufficient published notice was key, so that clear title could be established.

Two companies mentioned as possible vendors were Archon Information Systems, LLC, and Gilmore Auction and Realty.